| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1785463 | Current Applied Physics | 2016 | 8 Pages |
•Uniform sized synthesis of Er3+/Li+ co-doped Gd2O3 Nanostructures showing up and downconversion emission.•Lithium incorporation drastically enhance upconversion emission intensity.•Effect of Li co-doping on crystal structure was studied in detail.
A phosphor with higher emission efficiency in the visible region can be very helpful in various optoelectronics applications such as solar cells. Effective conversion of UV and NIR radiations to more useful visible and red emissions were carried out through Gd2O3:Er3+ nanostructures synthesized by conventional co-precipitation method. The spectroscopic study of Gd2O3:Er3+ samples were carried out as a function of dopant concentration under the excitation wavelengths of 378, 975 and 1540 nm, respectively. The doping of erbium show downconversion emission at 561 and 660 nm under 378 nm excitation while upconversion emission under 975 and 1540 nm excitations shows upconversion of NIR photons to 561 and 660 nm visible emissions. The enhanced red emission (660 nm) at higher erbium concentration was observed due to the dominant cross-relaxation processes. The efficiency of upconversion luminescence is highly dependent on the various relaxation and energy transfer processes involved in different energy levels of erbium. The intensity of downconversion and upconversion emission was enhanced by lithium co-doping in Gd2O3:Er3+ nanostructures. The incorporation of alkali metal ions in Gd2O3:Er3+ shows considerable enhancement in downconversion and upconversion emission intensity making the phosphor more suitable for optoelectronic applications.
